Spring-coiling machine



A. B, SINCLAIR.

SPRING COILING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9. 1920.

1,407,891 Patented Feb. '28, 1922.

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PATE/NT OFFICE.

SOUTH HADLEY FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SLEEPER & HARTLEY, INC., 01 WORCESTER. MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Application filed April 9,

To all whom it may concern:

\ Be it known that I, ALEXANDER B. SIN- CLAIR, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Hadley Falls, in the county of Hampshire and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful a Spring-Coiling Machine, of which the following, together with the accolil lpanying drawings, is a specification.

v y invention relates to spring coiling machines and has for its object to provide certain improvements in the spring coiling machine shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 1,266,070, issued May 14, 1918, to Frank H. Sleeper.

The above mentioned patent shows and describes a machine for. coiling or forming wire springs by causing the wire to be coiled around an arbor. prises instrumentalities for controlling the feed of the wire, for varying the form of the spring coiled and for severing the completed coils. The operations of the several instrumentalities are simultaneously controlled from a drive shaft through cam de vices, whereby the wire is fed, coiled and a completed coil cut oflfor each complete revolution of the cam shaft. In the patented machine, springs formed from only one predetermined length'of wire can be produced for a given setting of the machine, it being necessary to make certain rearrangements of gearing and other mechanism in orderto vary the length of wire that will be coiled for each revolution of the cam shaft.

y my invention, I propose to improve the above described machine, by providing a novel form of timing device to be used in connection with the coil severing devices, whereby the completed coil may be cut off after more than one revolution of the cam shaft. In this way coils containing different lengths of wire may be produced with but a slight adjustment of my timing device and without disturbing the previous setting of the other parts of the machine.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a View in front elevationof a coiling machine embodying my invention.

F ig.'2 is a rear elevation in partial section of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of the coiling arbor employed in the machine.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary views in side elevation showing the various positions Specification of Letters Patent.

The said machine com- T SPRING-OOILING MACHINE;

Patented Feb. 23, 1922. 1920. Serial a... 372,599.

occupied by the parts of my improved timing device.

Fig. 7 is' an enlarged detail parts of the timing device.

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of the timing device.

view ot the Like reference characters refer like parts in the difl'erent figures.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the

machine generally comprises upright sides or housings 1 and 2 mounted upon a suitable base 3, the various spring forming tools and their associated operating members being mounted upon and between the housings 1 and 2. The horizontal line of the wire feed is indicated by the arrow at 4,1116 wire being fed through a preliminary guide 5 mounted on the housing 1.

A plurality of pairs of feed rolls 6, 6 and 7, 7 are adapted to grip the wire as it emerges from the guide 5 and to feed it forward to the coiling tools. are provided between the feed rolls and similarly grooved guides 9 are provided to receive the wire from the rolls 7, 7. The two pairs of feed rolls 6 and 7 are geared together for synchronous rotation and means Grooved guides 8 vided with an opening extending therethroug so that the arbor 10 may be inserted from either end of the tool holder 12. As best shown in Fig. 3, the arbor 10 is provided at each end with a tip 13 substantially semicircular in cross section, the tip at one end being adapted for the formation of a right hand coil and that on the opposite end for the formationof a lefthand coil. The tip 13 is provided with a cutting edge 14 for 00- operation with a cutting tool in severing the 106 wlre, as hereinafter described. The tip 13 is supported below the line of feed for the formation of a right hand coil as shown in Fig. 1, and it is obvious that it may be positioned above the line of fe for the formaiio adapt-ed to be oscillated through suitable inst-rumentalities, fully shown and described in the above mentioned Patent No. 1,266,070.

It is obvious that the diameter of the coil formed upon the arbor 10 will be determined by the relative position of the coiling point 11 with respect thereto.

After a coil has been formed on the arbor in the manner described above, it is adapted to be severed by either one of two cutting tools 17 and 18. The cutting tools 17 and 18 consist preferably of rectangular bars of steel suitably mounted by means of clamps 19 and 20 upon pivotally mounted heads 21 and 22. The tool 17 is adapted to cooperate with the cutting edge 14 of the arbor 10 when the latter is 1n position to form a right hand coil, as shown in Fig. 1, and the tool 18 is similarly adapted to cooperate with the arbor 10 when the latter is in position to form a left hand coil. The cutter heads 21 and 22 are respectively mounted upon shafts 23 and 24 extending between the housin s 1 and 2. As best shown in Fig. 2, the shafts 23 and 24 project beyond the end of the housing 2 and are provided with end clamps 25 and 26 connected by a link 27, whereby the heads are adapted to be moved in unison.

The shaft 23 is" provided with a rocker arm 28 that is connected to a pivotally mounted cam lever 29 by means of a link 30. The cam lever 29 is adapted to be actuated by a. cam 31 mounted on a cam shaft 32. The cam shaft 32 is driven from a suitable source of power, not shown, which also has additional devices cooperating therewith for controlling the operation of the feed rolls 6 and 7 and of the other coiling tools. All of, the parts described thus far are shown in the above mentioned Patent No. 1,266,070. and further description of the other instrumentalities referred to, but not shown. is omitted for the sake of brevity.

The cam lever 29 is provided at its end with a stud 33 upon which is mounted my novel form of timing device, which will now be described. As best shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the timin device comprises a cam 34 and a timing di k 35 mounted side by side upon a shoulder 36 of the stud 33 and secured together by a pin 37. The working face 38 of the cam 34 subtends an angle of ninety degrees, and the disk 35 is similarly provided with a face 39. Y The disk 35 is also provided with points 40 and 41 that are spaced ninety degrees apart from each other and from the extremities of the face 39.

cam and disk are loosely mounted on the stud 33, they are frictionally held in any position bya spring pressed plunger 42 in the head of the stud 33. The shaft 32 also carries a post 43 diametrically opposite to the cam 31 and movable therewith. The cam 31 is adapted to engage the face 38 of the cam 34'and the post 43, being offset from the cam 31, is adapted to engage the points 40 and 41 of the disk 35. arm 44 may be adjusted in order to regulate gages the end of the cam lever 29 to hold it against the action of a spring 46 when the cam 31 is free from the cam 34, as will hereinafter appear. The position of the arm 44 may be adjusted in order to regulate the upward travel of the cam lever 29.

Having thus described the various parts entering into my invention, the operation thereof is as follows :The wire is fed forward by the rolls 6 and 7 and is deflected around the arbor 10 by the coiling point 11, as previously described, the operation of the feeding rolls and coiling tools being so controlled from the'cam shaft 32 that a predetermined length of wire is coiled .for each revolution of the cam shaft. In the previ- A stop ble to allow the feeding and tool controlling devices to be operative through more than one revolution of the cam shaft 32, before bringing the severing devices into op- \eration, as will now be described.

Referring to Fig. 2, the cam 34 is in such position that it is just about to be engaged by the cam 31,'so that the rotation of the cam shaft 32 will cause the cam lever 29 to be moved downward, as shown in dotted lines, and so operate the cutting heads to sever either a right or left hand coil. It is obvious that during the movement of the lever 29 about its pivot. the cam 31 will turn the cam 34 upon the stud 33 through substantially ninety degrees and will leave the disk 35 in such a position that the post 43 will engage the end of the face 39 upon the next half turn of the cam shaft and so move it into the position shown in Fig. 4. The cam 34 is then out of the path of movement of the cam 31, so that the cam lever 29 will not be moved upon the completion of the first revolution by the cam shaft 32. The post 43 will engage the point 40 upon the completion of the next half revolution of in Fig. 5. It is obvious that the cam 31 may then complete its second revolution without engagement with the cam 34, and that the post 43 will again turn the disk 35 when it engages the point 41, as shown in Fig. 6. This last movement of the disk 35 again brings the cam 34 into the position shown in Fig. 2, so that it will be engaged by the cam 31 as the cam shaft 32 completes its third revolution. In this way a spring will be formed upon the arborlO that contains three times as much wire as a spring formed in the previously described machine.

It is obvious that if it is desired to form a spring for every two completerevolutions ofthe cam shaft, it is only necessary to place another post diametrically opposite the post 43, in which case the points 40 and 41 will be engaged for each half turn of the cam shaft. Obviously, the length of wire in any of the springs can be varied within a wide range by increasing or decreasing the number of posts on the cam shaft 32 and the number of points on the timing disk 35, and also by varying the angular relation between the timing points and the osts. My timing device can be readily app ied to any of the previously constructed machines of this type by merely substituting it for the cam or roller formerly provided on the lever 29. Various forms of timing disks can be utilized to produce springs containing dif ferent lengths of wire without disturbing in any way whatsoever the adjustment of the machine, as a whole. In this way, springs of almost any desired length can be formed in one machine.

While I have shown my invention as applied to a particular type of machine, it is not so limited but is susceptible of various modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim,

1. In a spring coiling machine, the combination with wire feeding devices, coiling tools, a wire severing device cooperating therewith, and a rotating shaft for controlling the coiling tools, of a cam device for actuating said severing device from said shaft, and a timing device operated by the rotation of said shaft and co-operating with said cam device to cause actuation of the severing device only after the completion of more than one revolution by the said shaft.

2. In a spring coiling machine, the combination with wire feeding devices, coiling tools, a wire severing device cooperating therewith, and a rotating cam shaft controlling the coiling tools, of a lever operated by a cam carried on said shaft for actuating the severing device, and means depending upon the rotation of same cam shaft for rendering the cam inoperative until after the shaft shall have turned through more than one complete revolution.

3. In a spring coiling machine, the combination with wire feeding devices, coiling tools, a wire severing device cooperating therewith, and a rotating cam shaft for controlling the coiling tools, of a lever operatively connected to the severing device and.

provided with a cam acted upon by a cam carried on said shaft, and means for turning one of the cams out of the path of movement of the other until after the shaft shall have turned through more than one complete revolution.

4. In a spring coiling machine, the combination with wire feeding devices, coiling tools, a wire severing device cooperating therewith, and a rotating cam shaft for controlling the coiling tools, of a lever operatively connected to the severing device and provided with a cam acted upon by a cam carried on said shaft, the said cams having projecting portions moving therewith and adapted to engage each other and render the cams inoperative until after the shaft shall have turned through more than one complete revolution.

5. In a spring coiling machine, a wire feeding mechanism, a coiling arbor provided with a cutting edge, means for maintaining said arbor with its cutting edge either above or below the line of wire feed, a pair of swinging cutter heads, one above and one below said arbor, means for simultaneously swinging said cutter heads toward the arbor, a cam shaft controlling the formation of a coil on said arbor, and means for operating the cutter heads only after the cam shaft has made more than one revolution.

Dated this first day of April, 1920.

ALEXANDER B. SINCLAIR. 

